


No Boundaries

by Poppelganger



Category: Air Gear, Hellsing, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler, Naruto, Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You, Touhou Project, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Gen, Multiple Genres, Shorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-03-18
Packaged: 2018-01-13 19:59:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1239007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poppelganger/pseuds/Poppelganger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of Touhou crossover fics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Compromise--Black Butler

**Author's Note:**

> Fandom: Black Butler  
> Characters: Sakuya Izayoi and Sebastian Michaelis  
> A casual talk between two perfect housekeepers.

They meet again at the Phantomhive estate, this time as subordinates to adults trapped in the bodies of children.  He, standing so casually in the garden as though he belongs there in the middle of the night, and she, sitting on the patio with equal poise, a pocket watch glittering in her hands.  The butler sweeps closer, a smirk already playing at his lips when she flinches at his approach.  She's too tired to play this game any more.

"It's a shame," he says smoothly, "To see you tied down and reduced to a lowly servant."

"You are one to speak," she says, words heavily accented and slow, carefully articulated in a tongue that she is not wholly comfortable with, "Dog of Phantomhive and Scotland Yard."

"Ah, yes."  Sebastian is never out of his element.  Despite not having his master to attend to and nothing to busy himself, he stands perfectly erect, hands folded behind his back and graciously allowing Sakuya several feet of space.  He is wise enough to know that she will flee when cornered.  "But how interesting it is to be a dog."

"I suppose, when you try something that you are not accustomed to, it is very interesting," the maid agrees, fingers rubbing along the intricate pattern engraved on the watch.  Sebastian glances at it pointedly and she manages a tired smile.  "Do you remember this?  It is how I can compete with your perfection."

"The Lunar Dial," he says with a nod, "Last we met, you were complaining of how difficult it was to operate."

"It is not becoming for a maid of Scarlet to give up."

"Oh?"

"I say it in jest.  Truthfully, I am the only competent help in the mansion."  Her smile broadens.  "But perhaps you understand this as well."

"Only too well."  The lighthearted air between them becomes clouded with Sebastian's troubled expression.  "Have you ever felt trapped by that frail, human body?"

"Trapped?"

"By the whims of fate," Sebastian says, "Knowing that you will not live as long as your mistress and companions, knowing that your time is so very limited and your life will be over in the blink of a demon's eye, do you ever curse that you were born in such a body?"

Sakuya is silent for a long time, gazing down at her pocket watch as if for an answer.  Sebastian catches the faintest hint of a smile on her lips--a real smile, not unlike what he'd been met with so many years ago when she was young and naive.  "Never," she says, "Not even once."

It is people like her that Sebastian despises most, for they remain untouched by the world and its cruelty, holding onto a pure happiness that he has never quite understood but has always wanted.  More than pity, he envies Sakuya, who has come to terms with her mortality and embraced it with her entire being.  These are the ones, he knows, that he can never corrupt.  They would never let him.

"It is late," he tells her, "You should rest."

"Or my frail, human body will be unable to function," she finishes his thought with a wistful smile, "How thoughtful, Michaelis-san.  I will do just that."  The light of the moon bounces off her hair as she stands from the table, and Sebastian finds himself thinking again, like every time they meet, of a way to talk her into a contract.  Surely, she will outlive the overly-ambitious and vengeful Ciel, and he will still have a chance to have a piece of her soul--and that happiness--for himself.

But she is gone before he can think of something, slipping away like the night wind into the mansion and the world of mortal dreams, a world that Sebastian must accept that he will never know.


	2. Stubborn--Naruto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: Naruto  
> Characters: Suwako Moriya and Jiraiya  
> In which Suwako is the god of ninja frogs and Jiraiya is...well, Jiraiya.

Suwako had expected a number of things when she was summoned in an earthly avatar--a capable ninja full of determination who would respectfully go down on one knee and bow his head to her as he asked to receive her blessing.  She didn't get any of those things.  Instead, she got Jiraiya.

"Hey, Sarutobi-sensei, I think something's wrong.  Isn't Suwako supposed to be a tall, busty woman?"

Capable?  She had her doubts, but she couldn't be sure yet.  Determined?  Similar to the aforementioned.  Respectful?  Absolutely not.  Before the man who would become the Third Hokage could even begin to apologize for his student and hit him over the head--and he looked like he wanted to do both at the same time--she'd done it for him, smacking him face-first to the ground with one sleeve-covered arm.

"Brat!" she snapped, hands on her hips as she glared down at the white-haired young man.  "Did your parents raise you to be so disrespectful?  Do you know who I am?"

He scratched the back of his head.  "Well, I was trying to summon the deity Suwako so I could make a contract," he said, "But I must've screwed up.  At the shrines, all of the goddesses are depicted as these really mature, curvy women, y'know?  Are you some kind of envoy or something?"

"Jiraiya," Hiruzen warned, red-faced with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, "You're looking at Suwako right now."

The god smiled proudly and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for Jiraiya to fall to his knees and bask in her glory.  The young shinobi came closer, squinting as he stared at her, and she raised a brow.  "No way," he said, turning back to his teacher, "You're pulling my leg, right?  Well, you got me."  

"Suwako, I'm so sorry."  The jounin bowed, forehead touching the grass, "He doesn't know any better.  Please let him live."

"We'll see," the god said, lips pressed into a tight frown as she produced one of Moriya's Iron Rings from thin air.


	3. Heart's Desire--TWEWY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: The World Ends With You  
> Characters: Toyosatomimi no Miko and Neku Sakuraba  
> Neku reaches out to Miko, but her problem is not what he expected.  
> Implied sexual content and slightly alternate interpretation of Miko's ability.

Neku sees her beneath the Hachiko statue with her headphones on, a scowl he knows all too well on her face.  She blows a bubble in neon-pink gum, cleans the dirt from her nails that will only come back in five minutes, and ignores the people around her, some waiting, some just passing by.  Most people Neku leaves alone, lets them discover Shibuya and the world on their own time, but she looks just like he did.  He thinks she'll understand.

He taps on her shoulder and she turns to him, headphones still on.  "You should take those off," he says with a frown, about to make hand motions when she returns with a scowl and says, 

"I can hear you just fine.

*

Miko says she can hear too well.  Without her headphones, she hears not only voices, but desires.  In fact, she can hear ten at a time, each loud and definite and demanding all of her attention.  Mr. Hanekoma is automatically interested, and Miko is just surprised that someone believes her.  "But aren't you ever curious about the desires of your peers?" he asks, playing devil's advocate.

"No," Miko says flatly, "Not when I'm not able to figure out my own desire."

"Don't you want more than one thing?" Neku asks, and Miko shakes her head.

"It's not like that.  You can want everything in the world, but still only have one true desire."

"Exactly," Mr. Hanekoma says with a nod.  Neku is upset to be left out and resolves to find out what she means.

*

"What does desire sound like?" Neku asks her one evening, the day drawing to a close over Shibuya with a curtain of orange and blue.  Miko carefully considers her answer as though she's never been asked that before.

"It can sound like anything," she says, eyes darting from person to person as they walk by.  Neku wonders if she can hear what they're not saying.  "If it's really strong, like something they want with their whole heart, then it can be loud, like a jet engine.  But if it's a secret, then it could be just a whisper.  It can sound like wind chimes, or bird calls, or nails on a chalkboard.  Every desire sounds different."

"And it's just like that all the time, huh?  No way to turn it off?"

She taps on her headphones.  "That's why I have these."

Neku sits on the other side of Hachiko.  "Why did you come to Shibuya?" he decides to ask, and this is the question that surprises her and gets her to finally look at him.  Her eyes are gray, but they sparkle gold in the setting sun.  "I mean, there are people everywhere with all kinds of desires, so it's gotta be pretty loud.  Why come at all?"

For the first time, Miko gives a shrug that is not at all apathy but entirely anxious shyness and kicks her feet.  "I kind of hoped," she murmured, "That if I heard enough desires, I'd figure mine out eventually."

Before, Neku would have told her, "good luck," and went on his way, but he's different now, and looking at Miko makes him think of himself and everything he left behind in the Reaper's Game; the forced indifference, the bitterness, the need to push everyone away yet the hope that someone would come closer.  He puts his hand over hers on the cement fence surrounding Hachiko and meets her eyes.  "Maybe I can help."

Miko doesn't know him from a hole in the wall, and he knows that, but when Neku gets up and turns to look at her, she follows him.

*

Neku shows her Shibuya.  

They run through the streets, gaze into store windows, eat foreign foods and end up breathless back at the Hachiko statue.  Miko lets go of everything like he knew she would, and as she pants slings an arm over Hachiko to catch her breath, she's smiling.  Neku gets a good look at her now, the girl who was hiding inside of her shell, and his heart beats a little faster.  "I figured it out," she says, "I know what my desire is."

"What?"

She looks around and gestures towards the dark, but no less crowded, streets around them, lit by the giant screens and neon lights high above them.  "This," she says, "I want all of this.  My desire is everything Shibuya has to offer."  She gives a shy smile.  "And I desire you, too.  I want you to be here."

The statement is ambiguous, but Miko is blushing and hiding behind her hair, and Neku feels himself blushing, too.  "I'll be here," he promises.  

*

He keeps his promise.  Every day that Miko comes, he greets her at the meeting place.  It doesn't take long for him to begin seeing things that he hadn't seen before.  Miko's skirt sways over her legs and he drags his eyes up to the back of her head.  She doesn't even notice.  At first he was sure it was just a momentary want, but now he realizes that he needs her more than he needs to breathe, and he understands the truth of her words and the weight of her gift.  They stop at the Underpass to get out of the sun and she admires the graffiti.  

"Miko," Neku says, and he's certain she notices that his voice is an octave lower than normal, "There's no one else around.  You should take off your headphones."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to hear my desire."

She does so with excitement and anxiety.  The moment her pale ears are uncovered, she hears lust like velvet purring in her ears.  She hears whispers of what Neku wants to do to her and the caress of hands on her skin.  She hears their limbs tangled together.  She hears passion, power, and something that might be love all together at once, and she slips her headphones back on just as the blush reaches her ears.  Neku grins at her.  "So?"

"I heard you," she says shyly.  Neku starts to walk again, and he doesn't have to turn to see that she's following.


	4. Wings--Air Gear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: Air Gear  
> Characters: Hatate Himekaidou and Itsuki Minami  
> Ikki seduces a tengu.

Ikki sees her flying.

He catches up to her, breathless but eager, puts his hands on her shoulders, and begs her to teach him how.  Her hair is tied in pigtails with purple bows and she wears a checkerboard skirt and two-pocket blouse.  She carries a yellow cell phone with a calligraphy brush as a charm, and her eyes are large and dark.  She pushes him back and flies away.

*

Ikki stalks the same route for days until he finds her on it, and again pursues her tirelessly until she stops out of pity.  "Come on," he says, "I won't leave you alone until you teach me."

"I can't teach you," are the first words she speaks to him, and he memorizes the way her tongue pronounces them.  He thinks he falls in lust at that moment, and his focus shifts.

"You got a team?"

"A what?"

He holds out a hand.  "I'm Ikki."

She doesn't take it.  "Hatate."

"Cool.  So how about teaching me to fly?"

She leaves him in a whirlwind.

*

Ikki understands when he sees her again.  She flies, rides the wind like a stallion she's had all her life, great, black wings beating on her back.  They explode in a rain of crow feathers when her feet touch the ground, and she looks away from him in shame.  "I can't teach you," she says, "Because I'm not like you."

He takes her arm and pulls her into a kiss.  She tastes like cherry lip gloss and cold winds, and he knows he's in love.  It becomes frantic, tongues and teeth, and Hatate forces him back to breathe, her knees weak and shaking.  Ikki grins in a lopsided way and she blushes.  "You don't have to teach me," he says, "But how about you stick around for a while?"

This time, she doesn't fly away.


	5. Atop Time's Wall--Hellsing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: Hellsing (The Dawn)  
> Characters: A young Sakuya Izayoi and Walter Dornez.  
> The end of the war.

They meet on the battlefield.  Sakuya is spindly and starved, too pale to be Japanese, and she has a blood-spattered, hole-speckled cloak wrapped around her body, her stick-like legs trembling underneath.  The war is over, even if the Nazis don't want to admit it, and Walter thinks that might be why he smiles and holds his hand out to her with a sweeping bow.

"Shall we dance?" he asks smoothly, and she's understandably confused.  Walter doesn't know if she speaks English yet, but it hardly matters.  She hesitantly takes his hand and he twirls her around, laughing and holding her close in an anxious tango.  Sakuya has two left feet and is too weak to properly dance, and stumbles and steps on his toes, but Walter lets her try a minute longer before he bends her back at the end of the waltz, their noses almost touching.  "You are so beautiful," he says, "I haven't seen anything beautiful since the start of the war, and you're more than I'd been hoping for."

She doesn't answer, looking up at him with weary eyes.  Walter picks her up in his arms and her hands fly around his neck in a panic.  "Relax," he soothes, smoothing her bangs from her face.  Sakuya doesn't know where she's going, but she lets this stranger take her, if only because he hasn't killed her yet.

It is only many years later than she learns she was carried to safety by the Angel of Death.


	6. Skylark and Frog--KHR!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: Hitman Home Tutor Reborn!!  
> Characters: Sanae Kochiya and Kyouya Hibari  
> Kyouya is a frightening person, especially when he sets his sights on something.  
> Hopefully not too OOC.

**I**

Kyouya meets Sanae during a school board meeting in which each middle school sends a representative or two to discuss upcoming school events and current issues.  While most of the others are afraid to so much as meet his eyes, she asks him if the seat next to him is taken.  He is surprised; she is polite but firm, and when he tells her no, she even smiles at him.  She is not loud or obnoxious at any point during the meeting, articulating her disagreements with the poise of a dignitary, and when she leaves, Kyouya wonders how to get in touch with her school, or at least, when the next meeting will be.

**II**

The change in the Disciplinary Committee's head are noticed immediately by the entire student body.  No longer does he perform weekly uniform inspections or wander the halls in search of stragglers after the bell.  Instead, he retreats to the roof and sulks, and though they miss his productivity, the staff of Namimori Middle don't dare bother him.

"What's wrong with him?" Tsuna asks his other guardians, whom watch the reclusive Cloud from their spot in the schoolyard during lunch.

"Who knows?" Gokudera scoffs, "At least he's not such a hard-ass anymore."

Reborn is thoughtful.  "Love, maybe."

It falls silent after that before a collective yell of disbelief.  "Love?" Tsuna repeats incredulously.  "Hibari, in love?" 

Gokudera is similarly shocked.  "Is he even capable of loving another human being?"

"I think it could be love," Reborn says distantly, "But there's no way to be sure yet.  We'll just have to keep an eye on him."

**III**

Conclusive evidence appears in a matter of weeks during a collaborated sports festival, when their schools are among the competitors.  Tsuna hasn't seen Kyouya so invested in school sports since the bo-taoshi fiasco, but every participant from Namimori is threatened with death if they don't perform at their best.  Before the end, however, he disappears somewhere.

The guardians find him with the students from another school, scaring off all the first years, and are surprised to see him conversing normally with a girl.  "Ah, didn't we meet at the school board meeting?" she asks.

The prefect nods.  "Hibari, Kyouya.  I'm head of Namimori's Disciplinary Committee."

"I'm Kochiya, Sanae, and I'm also head of my school's Disciplinary Committee."

The wheels start to turn in Tsuna's head, but it still doesn't click.  "But she's so...normal," he says, "Not what I was expecting, I guess."

Reborn, however, only smiles as he watches them.

**IV**

Dino is ecstatic to hear about Sanae and enlists various contacts to get pictures of her.  Tsuna almost feels bad for her--the guardians weren't the only ones to witness them talking and, overnight, Sanae had become the talk of the town.  "Oh, she is rather pretty," Dino says, smiling at the candid snapshots of the unaware prefect enjoying her lunch.  "She even has lunch all by herself, like Kyouya.  Maybe she's the independent type?"

"What are you herbivores doing up here?" comes a growl from the stairwell, and the guardians take up refuge behind Dino.  "You know I hate crowding."

"We were just looking at pictures of Miss Kochiya," the Chiavarone boss says smoothly and without any sense of self-preservation.  But Kyouya doesn't lash out.  Instead, he silently draws closer, taking the photo from Dino's hands, and retreating to a corner of the roof.

"He's acting lovelorn," Yamamoto notes, and Gokudera mumbles something about it being too weird for him.

"It's obvious what we have to do, right?" Dino asks, "Tsuna, as Kyouya's boss, you must help him and Sanae get together!"

**V**

The matchmaking ordeal eventually leads the group to Moriya Shrine, where--according to Dino's sources--Sanae disappears to frequently.  After a nearly hour-long trek spearheaded by an eager Kyouya that Reborn refers to as "training," they arrive at the shrine steps.  Sanae is there--in fact, she wears a shrine maiden's uniform.  Her surprise seems almost as great as theirs.  "Oh, Hibari," she says shyly, "I didn't know you came to this shrine."

"Only recently," he replies, and his breathless tone isn't from their long journey.

**VI**

It takes almost a year for Kyouya to finally make his feelings known, responding to Sanae's homemade Valentine's Day chocolate with a beautiful skylark figurine that his mother had picked up upon first hearing Sanae's name.  She accepts it as gracefully as someone so overwhelmed can, and doesn't bat a lash when Kyouya refers to her as his wife rather than his girlfriend, though she's hesitant to return the favor.

After being together for so long, the other guardians suppose it's only a matter of time before Sanae picks up on all of the mafia weirdness happening around her.  When Kyouya vanishes to save the future from the Millefiore, she respects his privacy and doesn't ask after him, although she does welcome him back with a tearful hug as though she somehow knows.  

They're enjoying a mild summer afternoon as a group at the shrine, and Tsuna is trying to figure out whether telling her that they're in the mafia is his duty or Kyouya's, when a youkai, an honest-to-god, red-eyed, webbed-footed suiko, comes snarling out of the woods.  Sanae is the first to her feet and throws herself at the creature, and in a flurry of wind and quick movements, the suiko falls dead at her feet.  Kyouya approaches, the first one of the group to overcome his shock, and she bows her head to him in shame.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes, "I'm not actually a normal person, and I'm not the Yamato Nadeshiko I wanted you to think I was."

"If you think that disappoints me, you're wrong," he tells her, and their first kiss goes unnoticed as Tsuna has fainted at the sight of the youkai and the others are trying frantically to revive him.


	7. Garden of the Sun--YYH

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: Yuu Yuu Hakusho  
> Characters: Yuuka Kazami, Youko Kurama and Kuronue  
> There is a reason that nobody robs the Garden of the Sun.  
> Sort of PC-98!Yuuka.

There were no simple missions where Youko was concerned, but that was part of why Kuronue ran with him.  Any plan, no matter how complicated and multi-pronged, could end in failure, but neither of them were dissuaded; it simply encouraged them both to improvise and cemented them both in youkai legend.  While he'd never dare complain, Kuronue wouldn't be lying if he said he wouldn't appreciate a job to go the way it was supposed to now and again, though.  It would be nice if they didn't always go a bit off the rails.

And then there were jobs like this one.

The Garden of the Sun wasn't heavily-guarded, something they both found suspicious but neither of them commented on.  It was a land overrun by sunflowers with a great mansion in the middle, supposedly owned by a beautiful youkai mistress.  While Kuronue hoped in part to catch a glimpse of this lady, they came in the night when she should be sleeping, starting at the east end of the mansion and moving west.

They ran into her after just five minutes of being inside.

"A good evening to you, my lady," Youko said suavely, and Kuronue got a good look at the mistress of the mansion.  She was fair-skinned with large, ruby eyes and green hair that tumbled in curls down her back.  She wore red noble's robes and though she stood in the doorway of her bedroom like she was afraid, her eyes held merely curiosity.  Although youkai age could hardly be determined by appearances, she didn't look to be any older than eighteen.  "And what would the name of this beauty before me be?"

"Yuuka," she said softly, like plants rustling in the breeze, "Yuuka Kazami."  Unusually for Youko, Kuronue noted, he seemed to be putting much more effort than usual into charming this young woman, his stance confident, his eyes gleaming and his tail swishing rhythmically as though considering whether or not to mate with her.

"Yuuka Kazami," he purred, "Such a beautiful name suits you."

"What are you doing in my house?" she asked, seemingly unaffected by his comments.

He didn't let it deter him.  "Please excuse us," he said with a mock bow, "We're simply two bandits looking to make an earning, and your home promises great reward."

She regarded them both with an unreadable expression before her lips turned up into a smile.  Kuronue wondered if it was moonlight glinting in her eyes or malice.  "I see," she said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you've come to the wrong place."

"Oh?"  He knew they were in trouble when Youko flinched and subtly surveyed their surroundings, but noticed himself what was wrong when he noticed the light of the moon being blocked by something waving in the doorway behind her.  Demon sunflowers wriggled on powerful stems, their blossoms lined with tooth-filled mouths dripping with steaming, clear liquid, no doubt hungry for the flesh of two thieves.  Though Youko was no pushover, his companion noted that he hadn't seen so many large, ferocious-looking plants at one time before, even from the fox's hand.  Kuronue wouldn't dare show his fear if Youko didn't, though the kitsune's smile was grim now.  "Our apologies.  Perhaps this is the wrong mansion," he said.

*

The sunflowers showed them the way out; rather, they were chased until they reached the end of the territory, when the demonic plants reared back and returned to their mistress.  It was then that Kuronue realized that the stone he'd caught his toe on an hour prior at the edge of the field had been some poor youkai's clavicle.


	8. Royalty of Gandara--YYH

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: Yuu Yuu Hakusho  
> Characters: Toyosatomimi no Miko and Yomi  
> Yomi must find a mate if he hopes to rule Makai but Miko is reluctant to be courted.  
> Slightly alternate interpretation of Miko's ability.

**I**

A mate, they'd said, no, insisted, and so he'd begun to search for one.

It seemed odd that after so many years of leadership, only now was having a mate being pushed on the rulers of the territories.  His only desire was for power, power enough to unify all of Makai under his banner, and if he needed a mate in order to do so, then he would find one.  He sent his men all over his territory and beyond, searching for youkai with good public images and better manners, someone who wouldn't ask much from him or stab him in his sleep.  Despite the open-ended requirements, Yomi turned out to be picky, and even after many months of listening to descriptions of youkai, he was still without a bride.

And then he saw her.

Well, he didn't  _see_ her, but he sensed her.

He'd taken to passing between Makai and Gensokyo with Youko to stay on top of current happenings and wound up by Myouren Temple when he sensed someone in prayer.  Her name was Toyosatomimi no Miko, he learned, and her very aura exuded age, power, wisdom, and leadership.  He was certain that she was the one he wanted, but rather than speak to her directly, he returned to Gandara and sent his men with an extravagant announcement that he sought her hand in marriage.

And when word was sent back that they were returning with her, Yomi spent the following days preparing the palace like he had never done before.

**II**

To Yomi's disappointment, Miko was not nearly as eager as most youkai to become the mate of the ruler of Gandara.  This caused him great confusion and distress, as he'd yet to run into anyone who hadn't been interested, and it meant he'd have to court her with real effort, something he hadn't done since his young, rebellious years.

He asked his generals to describe the scene to him, which they did with great enthusiasm.  She arrived in a flourish, thanks to the blooming sakura trees that he'd asked Youko to plant for him, timed to bloom upon recognizing her energy.  Apparently, her people were as eager for this union as he was, as she was not wearing the plain hermit clothing he was told she wore at the shrine.  Now she was gilded from head to toe, a Heian woman's crown, necklace and pastel-colored kimono meant for royalty hanging around her shoulders.  Despite the noble air around her, he was told that her eyes were gray and disinterested.

Following were two of her own court, her advisers, Mononobe no Futo and Soga no Tojiko, dressed elegantly but nowhere near as much as their mistress.  Behind them were the guards Yomi trusted with retrieving her, carrying their luggage.

"Welcome to Gandara, Lady Toyosatomimi," Yomi said with a warm smile, but didn't feel that Miko returned it.  Her companions did more than make up for it, encouraging their mistress to show some respect or at least excitement.

"It is a pleasure to be here, Lord Yomi," she said dryly, and she sounded as pleased as he assumed she looked.  His smile faltered.

"Shall we go inside?  I have prepared a feast for your arrival."

She wasn't impressed.  "I suppose," she said, and followed himself inside his palace.

Thus began a long, tortuous courting ritual.

**III**

Tojiko took pity on him in the second week.

"Lord Yomi," she called him aside one afternoon, weary from dealing with her mistress, "If I may have a word."

"Please," the King said, joining her at the table, "What would you tell me, Lady Soga?"

To say she looked at him with pity would be a gross understatement.  "It's about Lady Toyosatomimi," she said, keeping up the appearance that they didn't intend to have this talk sooner, "Specifically, it's about your courtship of her.  If I may be so brash, Lord Yomi, you're going about this all wrong."

He leaned over the table.  "Then, please, tell me how I may improve it.  This arrangement began as a means to an end, strictly political, but my intentions have since changed.  What I truly desire now is Lady Toyosatomimi's hand in marriage, and her genuine reciprocation of my feelings."

"Then you must stop with this grandiose display," she said sternly, "Lord Yomi, we who were entombed within the Great Mausoleum are all practitioners of minimalistic lifestyles.  All of these flower petals and gilded clothes and gifts are meaningless to Lady Toyosatomimi.  She will more greatly appreciate your pure feelings rather than any more material things."

"My pure feelings?"

Tojiko smiled. "Lord Yomi, I don't believe you've ever gone to speak with Lady Toyosatomimi as simply a person, rather than as a leader.  Why don't you give it a try?"

Yomi thought on it silently and returned her smile.  "Thank you, Lady Soga.  I believe I will."

**IV**

"Lady Toyosatomimi," Yomi said with a cordial bow of the head.  He received a scowl for his trouble.  "I wanted to speak with you, if you have a moment."

"Of course," she said dryly, sitting across from him.

"You can take off that crown, if you'd like."  For the first time, he sensed something other than distaste.  "And the necklace.  In fact, you may wear whatever you'd like within the palace.  You may as well be comfortable."

"Lord Yomi," she began, and he shook his head.

"No.  We should stop using titles with one another, as well."  He smiled.  "So if you don't mind, perhaps I can begin to call you Miko instead?"

He now sensed that he was being regarded with suspicion as he came around the table to sit beside her, hands slowly rising to her hair as he removed the crown from her head.  She stayed still and let him unclasp the necklace and watched it fall to the floor with a clatter.  When he finished, she turned to look at him, hands rising to his face.

"I can hear it now," she said softly, "I can hear it.  Your true desire.  Your feelings."

Yomi relaxed in her touch.  "And what do you hear?"

He felt something like warmth and, dare he say it, affection.  "You want me to love you."  He couldn't help but smile.  "You're a fool.  If you paid better attention to me rather than trying to think of what gift to give me next, you would know that all it takes is time spent together."

"Is it too late to start now?" Yomi asked, and she shook her head.

"I don't think so."

 


End file.
